1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to bulk bag support rack systems for facilitating storage of large bulk bags. More particularly, the present invention concerns a support rack that is designed to support a bulk bag during both storage and unloading. The present invention also particularly concerns a bulk bag storage and unloading system that includes a bag unloading station that cooperates with the inventive support rack to facilitate unloading of the bag supported by the rack.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Bulk material (e.g., dog food, grain, etc.) will often be contained within large bags so as to facilitate transport, distribution and overall handling of the material. A standard bulk material bag typically includes a top material inlet and a bottom material outlet, such that material is loaded into the bag through the top inlet and unloaded through the bottom outlet. Furthermore, a bulk bag will often have an internal dimension of sixty-four cubic feet and be capable of holding as much as one ton of bulk material therein.
Those ordinarily skilled in the art will appreciate that bulk bags are unwieldy and that contact or direct handling of the bag is likely to risk bag punctures or complete bag failure. In this respect, a filled bag will typically be stored on a support rack that is designed to maintain the bag in an upright orientation. The support rack also permits the bag to be moved without the bag having to be contacted or directly handled. For example, the support rack may include a standard pallet-type base that can supported by the forks of a standard forklift. The filled bag supported on such a rack can consequently be moved without requiring any contact or direct handling. Conventional support racks are also typically configured to be stacked on top of one another so that the filled bags stored thereon are in effect stackable.
Even with such bag support rack systems, there is still the need to remove the bag from the support rack when it is desired to unload the bag. In other words, conventional support racks only facilitate storage of bulk bags and provide no support during or assistance with unloading of the bag. In most cases, the bag is lifted off the rack (e.g., by attaching the bag to a mobile lift such as an overhead chain hoist), moved by the lift to an unloading location (e.g., above the hopper of a screw conveyor), and then maintained in a suspended condition by the lift during unloading. Not only does suspension of the bag provide access to the bottom outlet, clogging is prevented and complete emptying of the bag is ensured.